Exchange Students
by TheOneTrueDestiny
Summary: Set at the beginning Order of the Phoenix and four months after the death of Asura. Harry and friends have to deal with some odd exchange students, who are poking around campus looking for something. What are they up to? Rated T for mild language fighting
1. Chapter 1

Exchange Students

A Soul Eater and Harry Potter crossover. I do not own Soul Eater or Harry Potter.

Chapter One

It had been four months since the Kishin Asura had been destroyed. Since then, things at Death Weapon Meister Academy have pretty much returned to normal. The only new developments were the retraction of the demon sword Crona's exile, a new teacher joining the academy, and summer break. And now, it was time to return to school.

Soul Eater sat at his seat, drumming his fingers on the desk. He pretended to stare at the board. _Ugh, again with the lessons._ He thought.His meister partner, Maka Alburn, sat beside him, ready to write down notes.

As their teacher, Mifune, walked into the classroom, he pulled out a sheet. "Alright, then. Before we begin, class," He said, sizing up his students, "The following students need to see Lord Death. Soul Eater. Maka Albarn. Black Star. Tsubaki Nakatsukasa. Ox Ford. Kim Diehl. Harvar D. Eclair. Kirikou Rung. Pot of Thunder, Pot of Fire, and Crona." Mifune folded the piece of paper. "That's all."

"Uh, sir? That's practically half the class. What gives?"

"I don't know." Mifune glared at the group. "Well? Get going. Lord Death wants you to be on time."

Maka closed her book. "Alright, we better be going." She stood up, and the group filed out of the class.

Five minutes or so later, the group stood assembled in the Death Room. "Hiya! Good to see you all again!" Death cheerfully intoned. "How was summer break?"

"Let's be honest. None of us went anywhere." Ox said.

"That's not entirely true." Tsubaki said.

"That's right. A certain someone had some fun with a certain dorky meister." Black Star said, smirking. "Right, Soul?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Soul said, deflecting the question. He was pretty sure that he was going to get a Maka Chop to the back of the head as soon as they left the room.

"ANYway." Death interrupted, breaking up the awkward conversation. "I've called you all here for an important mission."

"Yes, lord Death?" The group asked, snapping to attention.

"As you all recall, it's been four months since the defeat of Asura." Death said.

"Yeah, we remember. We were the ones who ended him." Maka said.

"Well, since then, his madness has been dying down. However, we have another problem." Death said. He tilted his head slightly. "Have you heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Hogwarts? What?" Death was greeted by twelve blank looks. Even Ox, the model student of the group, didn't know.

"It's a school for witches and warlocks." Death responded.

The reaction was immediate. The entire group's confused expressions shifted into ones of pure shock and horror. Except for Black Star, who just grinned at the prospect of a new challenge.

"There's a school for that sort of thing?" Tsubaki gasped.

"Several, in fact." Death said cheerfully.

"The three most prominent being Hogwarts in England, Beauxbatons in France, and Drumstrang in Hungary." A new voice said. Death the Kid, son of lord Death, had just entered the Death Room, accompanied by his twin guns, Liz and Patty Thompson. "Hello, father." Kid said, smiling.

"Welcome back, Kid!" Death said. "And yes, that is the focus. You see, the schools have been relatively harmless, and we've left them alone. However, due to the Kishin activity, we're going to be doing an inspection. The last thing we need is another Arachne or Medusa."

Crona shivered. She remembered her mother and aunt all too well. "Okay..." She stuttered. "So why are we here?"

"Actually, you're going to be the ones doing the inspection. We can't exactly introduce a teacher into the schools, so we're sending you." Death said. He shrugged. "It should be easy enough. You're our best students."

"Yeah, but... they'll know." Tsubaki mumbled.

"Of course, this investigation has to be low profile. You need to find out any secret activities going on that stray from curriculum." Death explained. "That includes teachers."

"Why don't you send Death Scythes?" Harvar wondered.

"Well, the Death Scythes still have jobs to do. Besides, they would attract much more attention." Death said. "This way, we can avoid attention. Besides, if someone is going out of their way to start raising a Kishin, they're more likely to move towards one of you rather than another teacher. This way, you can be both the bait and the trap! Smart, eh?"

"Okay... so which one are we going to?"

"Ox, Kim, Kirikou and their weapon partners will be heading to Drumstrang. Maka, Black Star, Kid, and Crona will be heading to Hogwarts." Death clapped twice. "Now, how about you go home and pack your things?"

"Yes sir." The group saluted, and left.

Death waited until they left, and then counted to five. At that exact moment, he heard a loud crash, and Soul and Black Star's yelps of pain. "I have a good student." He said, beaming.

Dumbledore sorted through letters on his desk. The Headmaster of Hogwarts permitted himself a small smile. Cornelius Fudge was a big ball of fear sometimes. Dumbledore had no intention of taking the position of Minister of Magic, but Fudge never believed him when he told him.

Dumbledore noticed a large letter, addressed to "The Honourable Headmaster of Hogwarts." Curious, he lifted the letter, and opened it. Several sheets of paper fell out and landed on the floor. Dumbledore blinked, startled. "Student profiles? At a time like this?" He wondered. Then he lifted them up. Eight profiles in all, and a letter. Dumbledore read the letter, and did a double-take.

The letter read as follows: To Albus Dumbledore, the Honourable Headmaster of Hogwarts. I'm sorry, but I have to exercise my power as Headmaster and founder of Death Weapon Meister Academy. As you may or may not be aware, four months ago, the Kishin Asura, a source of recent chaos, has been dispatched. To make sure that his death and resulting wavelengths have not affected your school, I will be sending a few exchange students to your school. I hope that this does not affect your timetable too much. Signed, Lord Death.

"First Umbridge, now this?" Dumbledore exclaimed, shocked. "And... did I read that correctly?" He looked at Fawkes, who was perched on top of a stack of books. "Lord Death?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Very well. Let's welcome these students. If they show up, then I might have to look into this."

**Hello, guys and girls, and welcome to the author's note! So, what did you think of the first chapter? For clarity, this is set during The Order of the Phoenix. And yes, I love Soul Eater. Hope you enjoyed! Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Exchange Students

I do not own Soul Eater or Harry Potter, awesome as that would be.

Chapter Two

"This is awesome!" Tsubaki cheered. "We're in England!"

"Hey, low profile, remember! Platform nine and three quarters, if I remember correctly." Maka said, reading from the slip of paper Lord Death had provided.

It was a challenge keeping a low profile for Black Star, and it showed. Twice he had upended their suitcases, yelling that this was no type of work for him of all people, and his idea of hailing a cab apparently involved walking into the street in front of one and demanding that it stop. It had finally ended when Kid had threatened to shave him bald, which apparently traumatized him. Since then, he had required a hug from Tsubaki every fifty seconds to keep from breaking down into tears.

Soul was carefully looking along the platforms. "You find it yet, Soul?" Maka asked.

"It's supposed to be the barrier between platforms nine and ten." Her weapon responded.

"Something wrong, Soul?" Crona asked.

"Just hoping that Blair doesn't total my bike between now and next May." Soul said. No one could tell if he was serious or not.

Maka was about to say something when she froze in her tracks. There were two people in front of her, as well as a large black dog. All three had witch souls.

_Remember, Maka, these witches will be a tad different than the ones you're used to. Most of them aren't affiliated with the Council of Witches._ Maka said, calming her nerves. _Most of them follow their various Ministries. It's not going to be a problem._

The two witches suddenly took a left. No, warlocks. They were male. Or was that wizard? Maka shook her head. _Not the time._

"What's wrong, Moody?" Harry wondered.

"That girl behind us." Moody gestured over his shoulder. "Saw her. She was staring right at us. Might want to keep an eye out for her, Potter." He shook his head. "Idiot Padfoot. Maybe she remembers you."

Sirius glared at him, a look that plainly said, "Not a big deal."

_Odd..._ Harry said to himself. _There was something familiar about that white-haired boy... but that's impossible. I'd remember someone like that._

_ Eh... do I know that guy with the black hair? Nah, I'd remember someone as dorky as that._ Soul thought. "Hey, Maka, what's wrong?"

"That dog had a witch's soul." His meister said.

"Great. Let's follow 'em to the platform." Soul said. The group turned, and started following the three souls.

"Brilliant. Now we're being shadowed." Moody said darkly. "Padfoot, remind me to buy Snape some dog treats to tease you with."

Sirius growled.

Harry was just about to pull out his wand when he saw the barrier for platform nine and three quarters. _Well, let's not keep Ron and Hermione waiting. _He thought, quickening his pace. The three walked over to the platform, and Harry, with one last glance at Sirius, walked straight through.

"So you walk through the wall. Interesting. Must be kinda like the Death Room." Crona mused. The group edged past the haggard man who had been accompanying the black-haired boy, and into the barrier.

"Okay, guys, our cover story is that we're exchange students from Alucard Academy in the United States." Kid reminded them. "Stick with it. No improv, Black Star."

"No fair." The ninja muttered.

Kid stopped as the train came into view. "Beautiful!" He suddenly said, spellbound. "Perfect symmetry, and right on schedule! Beautiful!"

"Kid, you can daydream on the car." Liz said, dragging him along.

Harry found the compartment his friends were in, and sat down inside. "Hello again." He said, smiling.

"We heard about your trial, Harry!" Neville said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Good thing you were proven innocent."

"True, but now Fudge hates my guts. That's not exactly good." Harry pointed out.

"That isn't the point, is it?" Ron said. "You can still go to Hogwarts, and your wand wasn't broken. That's good in anyone's book, right?" Harry grinned. There was a reason why Ron was his best friend.

At that moment, someone knocked on their door. Harry turned and looked, expecting Draco Malfoy and his friends. Instead, he saw a group of oddly-dressed teenagers.

Ron opened the compartment. "Lemme guess, everywhere else is full?" He asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Hermione narrowed her eyes. The speaker was incredibly skinny, and his/her face and voice didn't make her gender obvious. It didn't help that he/she was wearing something almost akin to a dress.

"Are you okay?" The witch asked. "You don't look well."

The pink-haired... girl, Hermione guessed... smiled, a nervous smile. "No, I'm fine."

"You mind if we sit down?" The girl with twin ponytails asked.

"Not much room." Neville said. This was true. Maybe three people could sit down.

"I'll stand." The boy dressed in black spoke.

"Okay then, make yourselves at home." Harry said, trying to be friendly.

"Thanks, man. I'm Soul. Soul Evans, but you can call me Soul Eater." The white-haired boy, Soul, said.

"Harry Potter. Pleased to meet you." Harry responded.

There was an awkward pause.

_Soul Evans... that name is familiar._ Harry thought.

_Harry Potter... why can't I place that name? _Soul wondered.

"The famous Harry Potter? This is an honour. I'm Maka. Maka Albarn." Maka said.

_Famous... oh yeah, Harry Potter... no, that's not where I know that name from. _Soul thought.

The group introduced themselves, and filed into the compartment. Kid stood at the window, between the two seats, while Liz and Patty stood at the door.

"Are you sure you're okay standing?" Neville asked.

"I'm sure. This train has already disappointed me once." Kid answered, annoyed. "All the compartments are on the left. Not symmetrical at all."

Neville blinked, startled. "Er... symmetrical?"

"Sorry. He's a little insane that way. Obsessed with symmetry." Liz explained.

"What, did he hit his head a lot when he was little?" Ron chuckled.

"Yeah, let's go with that." Patty quipped.

"Are you American?" Hermione asked. "I mean, you have American accents. I haven't seen you at Hogwarts before, either, so..."

"We're exchange students." Tsubaki claimed. "From Alucard Academy in America."

_Alucard Academy? _"Never heard of it." Hermione said.

"It's a really small school. Not really well-known." Tsubaki said. Hermione thought she detected a nervous edge in the girl's voice.

"I see." The brunette girl said. She jotted something down in a book. "This is a first. Hogwarts hasn't had actual exchange students since 1812."

"The war between American and Canada?" Black Star asked. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"I guess Albus Dumbledore decided that his school needed some good publicity." Maka shrugged. She actually meant it. _I mean, Death's been keeping notes on that school, and he showed me those. Three years ago, some magical creature went nuts and turned a bunch of students to stone. Two years ago, a serial killer showed up and their government went nuts. And last year, a student wound up dead at the Triwhatsit Tournament. All jokes about the DWMA aside, at least it doesn't have a student fatality rate._

At that moment, someone knocked on the compartment door. Liz rolled her eyes, and opened the door. "Sorry, all full."

Draco Malfoy chuckled. "Hello, Potter. More riff raff, I assume? My offer still stands." He said.

Kid blinked. "Riff raff? Sorry, I must have misheard you." He said, a threatening tone in his voice.

"And you are?" The boy asked.

"My name is Death." Kid said, glaring. "It's the same name as my father. Unless you're a very stupid rat, you know who I'm referring to."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. _Death? Death as a name? That's not a good sign._

Draco blinked. "Are you threatening me?" He asked, smiling vaguely.

"Yes, I am. Remove yourself from this car or I will throw you off of the train." Kid snapped.

"Do you know what you're saying?" Draco said, casually.

Kid slipped a card out of his pocket, and flashed it in Draco's face. Instantly the boy went white as chalk, closed the compartment door, and left.

"What was that about?" Ron asked.

"Oh, he knew who I was talking about." Kid said, smiling.

"Riiight... I don't. Who's this Death guy?" Ron asked, curious.

"He's a famous wizard in the States." Kid answered, smirking. "Pureblood. Has a fair deal of authority over problem families like Draco's."

The only one who found this explanation the least bit questionable was apparently Hermione. Unfortunately for the DWMA students, the only one who noticed her jotting down a mental note was Crona, who was currently curled up in a protective ball between Maka and Soul.

"So, I take it you have your stay planned out?" Neville asked.

"Yup." Black Star nodded. "That Hogsmeade place near the school sounds nice enough." He chuckled, as if there was something funny about that last sentence.

Harry didn't know why, but something about this group gave him the chills. _Agents of Voldemort? No, Voldemort wouldn't send pawns in as students. They would be discovered before too long..._

Maka also had misgivings. _The famous Harry Potter... and he has his Soul Protect on. Why would he do that on a train surrounded by friends? What if he's like Crona? I don't like the looks of this._

Despite sharing the same compartment, the two parties barely spoke to each other for the rest of the ride.

**The second chapter is done! Thanks for all your reviews. You guys are the best! Please leave a review if you found anything worth pointing out. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

Exchange Students

I do not own Soul Eater or Harry Potter. Those belong to their respective owners.

Chapter Three

When the train finally rolled to a stop the two groups, now dressed in their Hogwarts uniforms, made a quick exit from the train.

"What's the deal, Hermione?" Ron asked. "You were glaring at Maka for the entire ride."

"Something seems off about that group." Hermione responded. "You know what I'm talking about, right Harry?"

Harry shook his head dully. He wasn't paying attention.

"Well, something is up with that group." Hermione said. "Something... but I'm not sure what." _A famous wizard named Death... while Draco's family IS a problem family, they're powerful. And we didn't see this Death last year at the Quidditch tournament. If he was there I would have noticed. Come to think of it, Death Jr. there seemed to know Draco's name... but Draco never introduced himself! Something's up here._

"They seemed okay to me." Neville said.

"I don't know. Something about that group did seem off." Harry acknowledged. "Maybe we should keep an eye out for them."

The other group apparently shared similar sentiments. "I think I've just made a big mistake." Kid said, frowning. "But I'm not sure what it might be."

"Hello? That little bit about Lord Death? That was practically a dead giveaway!" Liz raged. "Come on, Kid, you said he's famous. People know about famous people!"

"Guys, I have something important to tell you." Maka interrupted.

"Okay, what is it?" Soul asked.

"Harry Potter had some sort of Soul Protect on." Maka explained.

"Wait, what? Why would he have Soul Protect on? He was among friends until we showed up..."

"Even before that, the first time I saw him, his soul was... well... I could see that it was a witch's soul. It was the right colour. But I couldn't see the shape of it, or the size."

"That's odd. A Soul Protect would completely dampen the soul and make it invisible. If you can still see it... maybe it isn't a Soul Protect at all." Kid mused.

"Uh, guys? That girl... Her-my-oni?" Crona said, stuttering over each syllable. "I think she noticed something. Maybe she saw through the truth."

"You sure about that, Crona? Maybe you're just nervous." Patty intoned.

"Oh, wait, that reminds me. Ragnarok?" Crona looked over her shoulder. "You remember what we told you, right?"

There was a pause, and then the group heard a muffled voice. "Yeah, yeah, don't show yourself, stay in Crona's veins, blah blah blah. This is gonna suck."

"Nice to see that you're following orders." Maka patted Crona on the shoulder.

As they watched, most of the students filtered over towards a bunch of horse-drawn carriages drawn by... who knew what.

"What are those things?" Tsubaki wondered.

"Thestrals." Kid explained. "They're visible to anyone who's seen death."

"That explains why no one else questions the insane skull-horse things." Black Star said, chuckling. "Of course, we've all seen Death, so... guess it makes sense."

As they watched, Harry and his group got into a carriage, and it was pulled off.

"Wait, did he acknowledge a Thestral? Has he seen someone die?" Tsubaki asked, surprised.

"Oh, that's not a good sign." Maka said. The group also entered a Thestral-drawn carriage.

"Well, here's a plan." Kid said, looking at his teammates. "Every other day, one of us will send a letter to Ox and the others at Drumstrang. Liz, Patty, and I will look after that blonde boy and his cohorts."

"Why? He's just a spoiled rich kid." Black Star shook his head. "Isn't that a bit of a waste?"

"His father was a Death Eater." Kid pointed out.

"A what now?"

"A few years ago, the Death Eaters were the witch equivalent of the mafia. Their leader, Tom Riddle, was feared by many people." Kid explained. "In fact, Voldemort was even given an honorary position on the Council of Witches. This man worked alongside Medusa."

"Oh... that makes sense. And Blondie's family?" Soul asked.

"The Malfoys? Let's just say that my father has had his suspicions about that family for a long time." Kid said darkly.

"Okay... who do I shadow?" Crona asked.

Kid thought for a minute. "Let's see." He pulled a list out of one of his robe pockets.

"What's that?"

"Father got me a list of the teachers and faculty. Crona, you'll be tailing..." Kid placed a finger on a name. "Dolores Umbridge. From what I've heard from Father, she's a new teacher. Her subject, though, is Defence against the Dark Arts. A job that is supposedly jinxed. Find out what that jinx entails, Crona. I'm counting on you."

Crona nodded. "Yessir."

"Black Star and Tsubaki, you'll be tailing Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Headmaster? Which is..." Black Star asked, sounding honestly confused.

"You're a slow one. Headmaster means principal." Liz said.

"Oh, right! Of course! Will do." Black Star grinned, giving Kid a thumb's up.

"We'll do our best." Tsubaki promised.

"And finally, Maka and Soul. You'll be tailing Harry Potter."

"That's all the explanation we need, Kid. We've got you covered." Soul grinned. "This'll be a piece of cake."

"Actually, two other schedule problems." Kid said, casually folding the list and hiding it. "For one thing, you'll have to attend the classes. Keep notes. You might hear something useful. And for the other... we still have to collect kishin souls."

"Aw, come on!" The entire group groaned.

"Calm down, calm down. Since we're on an assignment, we only need to gather ten souls each." Kid said.

"That's still forty souls!" Maka raged. "Where the hell are we going to find forty kishin souls in this one area?"

Kid smiled. "Actually, our location works to our favour. Thanks to Asura's madness, plenty of kishin have entered the nearby village and forest."

"Oh, great. That solves one problem then. But when the hell are we going to collect those souls?" Soul wondered.

"At night!"

"Against curfew."

"Of course."

"Awesome." Crona said nervously. "We get to break curfew. That sounds fun."

At that moment, the carriage rolled to a stop, and the group climbed out and walked up the steps.

Albus Dumbledore stood on the front steps, watching the returning students file in. His eyes scanned the crowd, searching for the DWMA exchange students. Hopefully, they hadn't put on their uniforms yet.

A student group emerged from the crowd. _So that letter wasn't a joke. _Dumbledore's mood improved greatly at that moment. "Sir? Are you Albus Dumbledore?" The speaker had a strange hairstyle, bowl-cut black with three white stripes on the left side.

"Yes, I am." Dumbledore said. A kindly smile crossed his face. "Welcome to Hogwarts. This is quite an honour. We haven't had exchange students in this school since 1812."

"So I've heard." The boy said.

"I have a letter from your headmaster, telling me about your arrival. I admit, I am quite amazed that an actual personification of death exists in the world, and he actually teaches children." Dumbledore said. The students continued to crowd by on either side of the group. "So, let's work on your dorm situation."

"Dorm situation?"

"Yes. As exchange students, you are probably unfamiliar with the four houses of Hogwarts. We'll be putting you in one house. Of course, if you find a more suitable location, you are welcome to move there if you get my permission."

The boy smiled. "Very well. Which room?"

"The Griffyndor house, perhaps?" Dumbledore suggested.

"Splendid." The boy agreed. "Shall we?"

"First, why don't you join the opening feast?" Dumbledore suggested. He lead the group on into the Great Hall.

"As meisters and weapons, you should know that our school doesn't teach the same style of witchcraft and wizardry as the Council of Witches and those affiliated with them." Dumbledore explained as they walked.

"Yes, sir?" Apparently, there had been some sort of agreement that the boy would do all the talking.

"We teach Charms, Potions, and other non-fatal brands of magic. The only place where it is possible to get hurt is in Defence against the Dark Arts... but I'd imagine you'll enjoy that subject. Why, last year," Dumbledore turned, and he had a merry twinkle in his eyes, "We had an ex-Auror as a teacher."

"That's the wizard equivalent of a policeman." Kid explained.

_This Albus guy... he's actually really nice. I don't know, I expected him to be a deadbeat teacher, or maybe some snooty professor dude..._ Liz thought. _But he's actually really nice._

"If you need anything," Dumbledore said as the group found a spot at the table, "Just talk to a teacher."

"My thanks." Kid responded. Dumbledore nodded, and walked off.

The group turned, and realized that they were sitting across from Harry Potter and company. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise!" Tsubaki proclaimed, trying to spark a conversation.

"It is, isn't it?" Hermione seemed a lot friendlier than earlier. Perhaps she had forgotten about their slip-ups.

"So you guys are in Griffyndor, huh?" Soul chuckled. "Of course."

They settled down to eat just as the announcements began.

**I think I'll have to end this chapter there. I hope that I managed to capture Dumbledore's character better. I'll be working on the other students, who didn't get as much screen time as Maka and co, next chapter. Thank you for reading, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Exchange Students

I do not own Harry Potter or Soul Eater.

Chapter Four

As the Sorting began, Harry watched the new students file in. There was a smaller group than usual. _Possibly because everyone thinks that Dumbledore's gone completely unhinged._ Harry thought darkly.

"New teachers?" Hermione asked, pointing at two of the women standing at the teacher's table.

"Probably one for the Defence against the Dark Arts. Not sure what the other one's there for." Ron muttered.

"You know, I've heard rumours that the Defence against the Dark Arts class is jinxed." Crona said nervously. "What sort of teachers have you had before? Besides last year, I mean. I know about the whole cop thing."

Neville looked at her, and then shrugged. "Oh, not much. Gilderoy Lockhart, a werewolf, this guy in a turban-"

"Werewolf?" Maka asked, shocked.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked. "He was a good teacher. No one got hurt by him, if that's what you're concerned about."

"It's not that. I just had a bad experience with a werewolf." The girl replied.

"Oh. Sorry." Hermione said. "What happened?"

"Eh... not a big deal. Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of the man with the magic eye?" Maka asked.

"Isn't he some famous werewolf that died a while ago?" Ron wondered.

"Yeah, sort of." Soul said, in a tone that said anything but.

During the feast, the students barely spoke. The food was great, as usual. They had just finished desert, and Harry was about to ask the question he had been sitting on for a while.

"So, which one's the-" Harry was cut off as Dumbledore began his announcements.

"Welcome back, fellow students, and a warm welcome to all first-years. Before we all begin the feast, there is some important information I need to tell all of you. We have received some students from Death Weapon Meister Academy, a meister school in America. Please be polite to them, as they are here to learn, not to harm."

Maka's jaw dropped. _We forgot to tell Dumbledore to keep it down! _She turned, and looked at Hermione, trying to smother her look of panic with one of confusion. The other girl didn't buy it.

Dumbledore kept talking, but Hermione wasn't listening. "You said you were from Alucard Academy." she snapped.

Maka grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Just... witches and meisters don't mix well. We wanted to keep a sort of cover... guess that's a little pointless now..."

"Right." Hermione said, sounding unconvinced.

"Look, Hermione, that was a bad way to start off for us. I apologize." Maka responded.

"Hem, hem." Maka froze as another person spoke. She fell silent.

The speaker smiled, the type of smile that an elderly grandmother might give. She wasn't that old, probably thirty or forty, but she dressed like she was seventy-something and her hair was short and curly. "As I was saying, my name is Dolores Umbridge, and I'm going to be your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm glad to be back here, I must say. I hope we all have a good year." Again, the woman gave the entire hall a broad smile.

Hermione turned to look at Crona, and stopped. The pink-haired girl looked like she was having a panic attack. Her eyes were wide, and she stared at Umbridge unblinkingly. Her hands were clasped together so tightly they both had gone white. Hermione heard the girl whisper, "It's her... it's her."

"Together, we will make great changes in this school-" Now everyone was listening except the Academy students and Harry.

"What's wrong with her?" the boy asked, concerned.

"I don't know. Who's she, Crona?" Tsubaki asked.

"Dolores Umbridge... I met her when I was young." Crona stuttered. She suddenly shut up.

"Progress for the sake of progress-" Umbridge continued, but few people were listening.

"Does it have something to do with you being... what's a meister anyway?" Harry asked.

"Oh, nothing fancy. We're not really different from you wizards. We're kind of like Aurors..." Kid said. He didn't sound convincing.

"They're more involved with the Council of Witches than any Ministry of Magic." Hermione said, not paying attention.

"Yes... we'll explain later." Soul said.

Umbridge's speech slowly drew to a close, and the students almost promptly started moving.

"First years! First years!" Hermione called, bringing the group together. "Harry, Ron, with me."

"What's up, Hermione?" Ron asked, getting up from the table and bidding Black Star a good night.

"Two things." Hermione said curtly. "First off, that little speech Umbridge just gave is bad news."

"What? It was boring, sure, but it wasn't-"

"I take it you weren't listening." Hermione snapped. "She basically said that the Ministry is going to be monitoring Hogwarts. But that's not the worst thing."

"What, Maka and her friends? They said they felt nervous." Harry said. "I think we can trust them-"

"Harry, it's not if we can trust them or not. They're meisters." Hermione said, stressing the last word.

"I always thought that meisters were myths." Ron added. "Mum told me, when I was little, that if I woke her and dad up in the night, meisters would come and get me. I thought that they were-"

"Your mother doesn't take them seriously." Hermione said, sounding irritated.

"Okay, Hermione, enlighten us. What's a meister?" Harry said. "I don't know."

"Oh, that's odd. Meisters don't have the same rules as any Ministry of Magic. They're capable of magic, but not the type of magic we've been learning in Hogwarts." Hermione said, quickening her pace. "Actually, there's two groups. Meisters and weapons. Usually, one meister is teamed up with one weapon."

"And?" Harry asked, looking behind him. Maka's group had also exited the hall, and were following him.

"Basically, the weapon acts as a wand." Hermione said matter-o-factly. "It helps double the magic of the meister and casts various types of spells."

"Great, Hermione, your hours in the library have paid off. Now what does this have to do with us?" Ron asked, sounding bored.

Hermione glared at him. "Maybe you don't understand, Ron. Weapons and meisters HATE wizards. And if rumours are believed, they take orders from the Grim Reaper, Death himself."

"Death? As in... skull, black clothing, big sickle? That Death?" Ron asked, understanding dawning on him.

"That Death." Hermione nodded. "Bad news, no matter which way you view it. So what are eight supposed trainees of the Grim Reaper doing at Hogwarts?"

"Hey, Kid said earlier that his father was named Death." Harry suddenly realized.

Hermione froze, and the first years behind her also stopped, confused. "Good lord." she gasped, "you're right. That means Death is a real being... you'd best keep your guard up, Harry. This can't be good." Hermione lead the group onwards.

Harry shivered. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about going to his next Divination class.

**Sorry about the time it took to update. I got a little lazy. Anyway, I figured that Hermione would know about weapons and meisters, due to all the time she's spent in the library. However, most of the other students haven't quite made the connection. Lucky for Maka and her group. I guess Umbridge got kinda shoved to one side here... I'd say I feel bad, but that would imply that I actually like Umbridge. Well, see you later! Please review and tell me if I missed anything.**


	5. Chapter 5

Exchange Students

I do not own Harry Potter or Soul Eater. Oh, and edit... I messed up Killik's name. Stupid name sheet.

Chapter Five

The group walked to the Griffyndor common room. "Well, that went over well, didn't it?" Crona said nervously.

"Define "well." Now we've drawn attention to ourselves, and our little charade became pointless." Kid groaned.

"Well, at least Hermione has one less thing to find out and expose." Tsubaki said, trying to stay positive.

Black Star smirked. "Sorry, Kid, but Dumbledore probably knew a star when he saw one. After all, I had a hard time believing that I would go unnoticed here."

"That threat still stands." Kid grumbled. Black Star's jaw dropped. "You know, you've barely spoken since we got on the train. That's a long time. I should employ this threat more often."

"Hey, Crona? You said you knew that Umbridge lady. Who was she?" Soul asked.

"Well ... you see ..." Crona mumbled, "Umbridge ... was kinda ... Medusa had her babysit me whenever she had an experiment that didn't involve making me kill things." The last portion of the sentence was said all in one breath. Crona was shivering like a leaf.

"Seriously? First your mother, then your aunt, now your babysitter? Was there any witch you ever met who wasn't evil to some degree?" Maka groaned.

"Be fair, Maka, we don't really know her. For all we know, she might be a sweet old lady." Kid said.

Soul laughed. "Yeah, right. She's teaching, she holds a position in the British Ministry of Magic, and Medusa hired her as babysitter. She has to be evil to some extent."

"Umbridge was very strict." Crona continued to mumble. "I can't count how many times I got a soup-ladle to the head for appearing a second off cue."

"Charming." Liz intoned.

"So, Crona... do you still want to trail her?" Kid asked, putting a hand on crona's shoulder. "We could switch you target-"

"No, I'll do it." Crona breathed deeply. "As long as I don't freak out, I'll be fine."

Maka nodded. "Good for you, Crona."

"Okay, everyone, new detail. Every other day, one of us is going to send a letter to Killik and the others." Kid said. "Every third day, we'll send a letter to Lord Death."

"Sounds easy enough to remember." Soul said. "Right, well, we have a full day of classes ahead of us tomorrow. Better get some sleep."

As usual, the Prefects explained the dorm room situation, and the students moved into their rooms. Little did they know that this was the last night of peace Hogwarts would know. This year, things would be a little different.

Harry blinked. _What the- where am I?_ He looked around, shocked. _I just went to bed... a dream? But where? Voldemort always showed up in my dreams... where is he?_

From the looks of things, it was a party. Someone was playing the piano, and there was a buzz of chatter in the background. Harry took a step forwards, and stopped. Everything seemed larger. He noticed a mirror nearby. A much younger Harry Potter stared back at him. _What is this? _Harry wondered.

"Well, yes, terribly tragic." Harry turned. Uncle Vernon sat at a table, talking with a familiar man. Aunt Petunia and another woman were also engaged in conversation. Harry squinted. The woman looked familiar as well.

"Damn shame." the man Vernon was talking to said. Harry blinked. _An American accent? Are the Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon in America? _"All those car companies, they tell you that their airbags will save you, and then something like this happens. Sad, I say."

"Indeed, Frank." Vernon agreed. "But their child survived. That should count for something, shouldn't it?" He didn't sound too happy about that.

_Car accident... child survived... he's talking about me. But he never talks about __me to neighbours... why on Earth is uncle Vernon explaining himself to a strange American? _Harry wondered, confused.

"I guess. Poor Lily. Say, did you bring the kid?" the American asked.

"Yes, yes, here he is." And then Harry was being lead over to the man. "Harry, this is your uncle, Frank Evans."

_Uncle Frank Evans... _Harry suddenly remembered the name. _This is a family reunion! And that woman is Rose Evans, Aunt Petunia's other sister and my aunt._

"Hi there, little fella." Uncle Frank said.

"Hi." Younger Harry murmured.

"He's a shy little fella, isn't he?" Uncle Frank asked.

Uncle Vernon nodded. "Quite. Nothing much can be done about it, though."

Harry wandered away from the two men as they went back to their conversation. He slipped away into a knot of relatives, and started looking for something to do. _He's telling the family about the deaths... so it can't be very long ago. I can't be more than five, and that's being generous,_ Harry thought.

"Hey! Give that back!" Harry heard Dudley's whiny voice. He turned, and looked for his cousin. He didn't seem him among his relatives, but he heard him somewhere.

"Come on, Wes, don't give it back to him!" Another familiar voice sounded.

_Wes Evans? Isn't he a violinist? I forgot about Wes..._ Harry's thoughts were cut off as he saw the speaker.

He was Harry's age, and his clothing was very different, but it was unmistakable. That silver hair and those red eyes only belonged to one person Harry knew.

Soul Evans grinned at him. "Hi. I'm Soul. Who are you?"

The next thing Harry knew, he was awake and shivering. It was the morning, and no one else was awake yet. Harry grabbed his glasses, and started to get dressed. _Was that a memory? If it was, what the hell was Soul Evans doing at a family reunion so long ago?_

**End of Chapter Five. So, what did everyone think? I bet everyone sees the connection I'm building up here, but if not, I'm not going to spoil it. Hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Chapter 6

Exchange Students

I do not own Soul Eater or Harry Potter.

Chapter Six

Over breakfast, Harry attempted to push Soul's self-assured grin out of his head. _What does this mean? Usually, when I dream, Voldemort's involved in some way. _Harry swallowed a piece of pancake, and looked at Ron. "So, what's the first class of the year?"

Ron pulled out his schedule. "Defence against the Dark Arts," he responded.

"Great. First class of the year, and we have Dolores Umbridge. Let's hope she's actually a Grindylow or something." Harry grumbled darkly.

"Hey, guys, do you mind if we join you?" Kid asked from across the table.

"Sure." Ron said, shrugging. "We're going to be doing Defence against the Dark Arts. Figures that the first class we have is going to be taught by the woman who tried to convict Harry Potter of all people."

"Wait, what?" Tsubaki asked, confused.

"I used a Patronus charm on a Dementor that attacked my cousin and I." Harry explained. "That broke the no-underage-magic rule."

"Oh. Shouldn't that Patronus-thing be an exception?" Liz wondered, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes absentmindedly.

"It should. It isn't." Hermione said, annoyed.

"Wow. That has got to be the stupidest rule I've ever heard of." Soul grunted. Apparently the "cousin" comment had passed him by. The silver-haired boy might have been a little slower than Harry had thought. "So, was your cousin okay?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. _Maybe he isn't my cousin. _"Dudley was fine."

Soul snickered. "Dudley. Sorry, but Dudley Potter is a bad name."

"Actually, his last name is Dursley." Harry corrected.

"Dursley?" Soul asked, suddenly interested. "Sounds familiar. Dudley Dursley. Name just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?"

At that moment, the bell rang in the bell tower, signifying the beginning of morning classes. "Come on, let's go." Hermione stood, and lead the group out of the hall and towards the Defence class.

Maka was taken rather aback by the appearance of the classroom. As a Defence class, she had thought that the room would be clear, and there would be something like a bucket of water or two in the room. Instead, a group of desks dominated the room, and a little lecture booth sat up at the front. Umbridge was dressed in the type of sweater a grandchild might have knitted, and she sat in a chair at the front of the class. She wore a bright smile.

"Twenty bucks says she's going to hand out cookies." Soul said cynically.

"Twenty bucks says she's going to get us to sing nursery rhymes." Black Star added.

"Twenty Knuts says she's going to ask us to call her "grannie," if you're taking bets." Ron said. Noticing Hermione's exasperated glare, he added, "Okay, maybe that's a little harsh."

Once everyone was seated, Umbridge stood up. "Welcome, class! It is a pleasure to see so many smiling faces-"

"Must be the Slytherins." Ron muttered to Neville, who sat beside him.

"-and some familiar ones as well! Hello, Crona." The class turned as one to look at Crona, who turned red as a beat from the attention.

"Is that a boy or a girl?" Someone asked. This was followed by giggling from the Slytherin group. Maka flinched. Back at the Academy, most meisters respected Crona's privacy, although a good deal of them slipped up in casual conversation. Perhaps that was because most Academy students were still overcoming the shock of being taught by the Grim Reaper, a zombie, and a mad scientist, but the point still stood. This was quite possibly the first time someone had actually insulted Crona to her face.

Crona grinned nervously. "Hi, Ms. Umbridge." She squeaked. Maybe she was too nervous to feel angry. That was possible.

"I didn't expect to see you here, young lady. And you're a meister now? Isn't that sweet?" Umbridge turned to face the class. "Now, class. There will be no talking from this point onwards." As quickly as the recognition had come, it faded. Umbridge had gone into lesson mode. "Now, there are two rules in my class. Do not talk unless you've raised your hand and I've selected you, and do not bring out your wands until I say you can. Now, let's do attendance."

Umbridge read the attendance, and then went back to her monologue. "Now, as I understand it, your understanding of Defence Against the Dark Arts is quite lacking. This is no fault of your own, but more that your last few teachers were not the type that the Ministry would readily approve of. You have no one to blame but them. Therefore, we will be returning to basics. Luckily for you, Defence is quite an easy subject. Please take out your copies of Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard." The student body quickly pulled their books from their bookbags, and there was a collective thud as the books hit the desk.

"Good, good." Umbridge said, still smiling austerely. "Now, open to the first page. Mrs. Patil, you read."

After roughly five minutes of reading, two hands went into the air simultaneously. Umbridge raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "So, class, what have we learned from this first chapter?"

No one answered for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Umbridge pointed at Hermione. "Yes, Ms. Granger?"

"The first and only way to deal with dark magic is to run." Hermione said. "That is, according to Mr. Slinkhard, anyway."

Umbridge turned and looked at Maka, who was the only other one with her hand up. "What is it, Ms. Albarn?"

"Sorry, but this book doesn't really tell us anything. Isn't the point of this class to assume that there's no way to dodge dark magic?" Maka said.

Umbridge's eyebrows practically leapt from her head. "Goodness, where did you get that idea from?" she asked, sounding as if the idea was somehow funny.

"The woman who tried to tear me limb from limb a year or so ago." Maka said, shutting her eyes and her book simultaneously.

This response prompted involuntary laughter from the Slytherins. Hermione nodded, and turned away.

Umbridge cleared her throat. "Well, the Ministry has decided that learning curses and jinxes isn't as important as understanding basic defence theory, which this book is about," she said, sounding slightly annoyed. "While your unfortunate encounter must say otherwise, avoiding conflict is the first and best option to deal with the Dark Arts."

"Yes, and knowing that, most Dark Wizards cut off the escape routes that their victims try to use." Hermione said bluntly. "After all, the Council of Witches seem to like that approach." Something about Hermione's words made everyone in the room flinch.

Umbridge didn't turn back to Hermione, but she did say, "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Ron's jaw dropped. Harry extended a hand in front of his friend, to try and prevent him from saying something stupid. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kid mirror his gesture with Black Star.

Umbridge turned back to the book. "Now, I expect the following work to be completed for next class. Page twenty-three to forty-five, questions-"

"Damn it, Hermione, why did you have to go and say that?" one Gryffindor hissed at Hermione. Harry was about to speak up in the defence of his friend, when a piercing headache hit him. _What the-!_

Maka whirled. Harry's soul had suddenly pulsed. For a moment, Maka thought she saw a red shape move amongst the purple blur of Harry's soul, but it was gone before she could confirm it. Harry's face was a mask of pain, but he didn't cry out.

As quickly as it had came, the pain settled. No one looked at Harry, who had managed to muscle down the pain. Harry's eyes met Ron's, and the same thought crossed their minds.

_What the hell is happening?_

**And Chapter Six is done! Sorry it took so long, I got absorbed in Starcraft. And Harry's scar starts hurting! Sorry, I'm doing a bit of a number on the OOFTP canon... but it's going to be even worse next chapter! (cue evil laugh) Tune in next time, folks! Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

Exchange Students

Disclaimer: Do not assume I own Harry Potter or Soul Eater. I do not. Also, I apologize for the poor grammar up until this point. I'll try to improve from here on out. I'm also going to be using dividers, to try and make reading my work easier. If these annoy you, send me a message and I'll stop. Thank you, and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Seven:

The minute class abated, Harry strode off towards the hospital wing. His scar still hurt, and now there was an odd itch in his left eye. Despite all of the pain, Harry was not worried about the scar. He was more worried about what it might have meant about Umbridge. _Dumbledore would probably want to know about this. _Harry realized.

His friends hadn't caught up with him yet. Harry slowed down, waiting for them. After a minute or so, Ron and Hermione caught up, both of them exhausted. "Slow down, Harry! What's wrong?" Ron asked, panting from the run.

"My scar started hurting in front of Umbridge." Harry explained.

"What?" Hermione gasped.

"I know. I better get to the medical wing soon." Harry agreed, continuing on his way. "Tell Dumbledore, would you?"

"Okay, Harry. Do you want any help?" Ron offered.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." Harry said. With that, he hurried off.

"Hey, guys!" Ron and Hermione had pushed out of the crowd towards Kid, Soul, and Black Star.

"Hey, what's up?" Black Star asked.

"Oh, not much. Boring class, wasn't it?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"No kidding." Soul grumbled. "I don't know why, but that woman rubs me the wrong way."

"Same here." Ron agreed. "Hey, where are the others?"

"Oh, Maka was trying to have a word with a Slytherin student earlier. I don't know where she took him, but... oh, wait, there he is." Kid pointed. A Slytherin student edged his way out of the crowd, blushing red. As he passed by, Ron noticed that there was an indentation the width of a textbook on his head.

"Ouch. She calls that one the Maka Chop." Soul flinched.

"What... did she hit him with a textbook?" Hermione asked. A small smile suddenly appeared on her face. "I've never thought of that."

Ron took a few steps away from his friend. "Er... okay... so, Kid, we wanted to know if you guys knew anything about You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?" Kid asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who is he?"

"Well, not many people like saying his name. It's just a matter of comfort." Ron said nervously. "Okay, okay... Voldemort."

"Just Voldemort? That's it?" Black Star laughed. "Come on, dude. Our info says Voldemort was just a gangster. Small fry compared to Asura."

"Who's Asura?" Ron asked.

At that moment, Maka and the rest of the group appeared. Maka still held the offending textbook in her hand. "Well, I guess Mr. Slinkhard is useful for something after all," she said, smirking.

"You hit him?" Hermione asked. Ron looked at her, and realized that she had gone into Granger mode.

"He insulted one of my friends." Maka responded. "No one gets away with that."

Hermione smiled at this. "All the same, you can't go around hitting people with books all the time. You might cause some serious injury."

A fire appeared in Maka's eyes, and she also adopted a broad smile. "Oh, I'm aware of that."

Everyone else turned and looked, aware of the building tension between the two girls. An unspoken exchange was going on between the two girls, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Oh, I think I'm going to like you." Hermione eventually said, her smile becoming a smirk. Then she turned, said, "Well, good luck with your schoolwork," and walked off.

"I'm quite scared now." Ron eventually mumbled.

"Sorry, you were asking about Asura earlier, weren't you?" Black Star said, trying to change the subject. Maka had already disappeared to somewhere, Soul trailing along behind her.

Five minutes later, Ron nodded in understanding. "Sounds like this guy hung out with You-Know-Who a little too often," he said.

"Is Voldemort really that bad? From what we've heard, he's just a petty gangster." Liz pondered.

"Oh, he's bad. Lots of people were afraid of him back in the day." Ron explained. "You probably already knew this, but he was an honorary member of the Council of Witches for several years."

"Yeah, we knew that." Patty said cheerfully.

"Do you know anything else about this guy?" Ron asked, hoping that there was one scrap of information that he didn't know about.

"Not much. Sorry. Why do you need to know?" Kid asked.

"Let's just say that a couple of my friends want to have a word with You-Know-Who involving family matters." Ron said. "So, are you sure you don't have anything else I might need to know?"

"Nothing springs to mind." Kid said.

"Okay. Well, thanks anyways." Ron nodded, and intercepted Neville as he walked past.

Crona looked on after him. "Guess we're not the only ones who want to know about this "Voldemort" guy," she said. "That's good. Many hands make light work, right?" The pink-haired girl sounded nervous, and the rest of the group felt pretty much the same way.

A few hundred kilometres away, a gathering was going on. Several people in dark clothing and masks were standing in a circle, all facing inward. They shuffled nervously, looking at the figures in the centre.

The man in the centre was an unpleasant sight, to say the least. He was dressed in black robes, but the sleeves didn't cover his arms, and he didn't wear a mask. His skin was pale white, white as a wraith, and his nose was slitted. A pair of crimson, inhuman eyes glared at the people surrounding him. His name was Tom Riddle, but he preferred to be called Lord Voldemort.

The figures standing in front of him were mercenaries. They were offering their services to infiltrate a certain school. Voldemort examined each one. There were three, and two of them were male. The men were a pair of hulking, massive figures. One was dressed in a leather jacket and pants, and wore massive gloves. The other wore some sort a trench coat, covering most of his body. All that could be seen was the top part of his head and his fuzzy black hair. Oh, and his eyes. One of his eyes had some sort of red-glow to it. It was odd. The middle figure was a woman, but dressed down very heavily.

Voldemort gave each merc one more look, and then turned away. "How much do you want for this?" he asked.

"Oh, we're not going to ask for much. Only a few hundred Galleons," the middle figure said. "It's not going to be that hard to enter the school, anyway. In fact, I think an opening as a teacher will be opening up soon." She chuckled, as if this was some sort of joke.

"Very well." Voldemort said, nodding. "Two hundred Galleons. Or were you hoping for more?"

"I would have said three hundred, but you know what? I'm feeling generous." The leader said. "You have our word, Dark Lord. Already, our operatives are on their way to Hogwarts."

"Are you sure I shouldn't send Wormtail to help your employees? He's disposable." Voldemort said. This was true. Wormtail was plenty disposable.

"Nah, we're good. My operatives are pretty mousy... I don't think that they would approve of a rat in the works."

The Dark Lord permitted himself a brief laugh. "That's a terrible pun," he said.

"I tried." The woman turned away. "Alright, boys, let's be on our way. We'll be seeing you shortly." The group turned, and walked off.

Voldemort walked towards one member of his circle. "Lucius Malfoy. I want you to send a letter to our dear old Professor Snape. Let's tell him about this transaction. After all, I have a feeling that woman knows him." Malfoy hurried off. Voldemort smirked, and addressed the rest of the Death Eaters. "You're dismissed. Begone."

**And this chapter is finally done! Man, seven chapters in and Voldemort finally makes his grand appearance. About time, seeing as this IS a Harry Potter crossover. Oh, and take three guesses as to who those three people were. I bet most of you are going to like this. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Exchange Students

**Disclaimer: I do not own- wait... IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK! Sorry, had to. I do not own Harry Potter or Soul Eater, as awesome as that would be.**

Chapter Eight:

By the time the day had ended, the DWMA students had become rather alienated with the rest of the student body. Harry didn't exactly blame his peers, either. Maka and Kid were rather intimidating, and the rest of the group were oddballs. The fact that they were meisters didn't exactly help. Harry sat up in bed, looking across the room at Black Star, who was snoring away in his own bed. For some reason, the meister had felt the need to hold a ninja sword across his chest. Harry assumed that he wanted to stay protected, seeing as he was surrounded by wizards, people who he didn't trust. He had to admit, that was something that it paid to be good at. Kid and Soul were also asleep, in beds on either side of him. Aside from Ron and Black Star's snoring, the castle was quiet.

Harry put a hand on his dresser drawer, searching for his invisibility cloak. He felt the compulsion to search the grounds. Usually he didn't roam around until a few weeks after the beginning of school, but this was a special circumstance. Harry pulled the cloak from the drawer, and put it on.

As he slipped out of bed, Harry could have sworn that he heard an extra set of breaths in the room. He raised an eyebrow, and looked around. Unable to find the sound of the breathing, he walked out of the room.

As he reached the common room, Harry froze. The female meisters, minus Tsubaki, stood around in a group, whispering to each other. Intrigued, he moved forward.

"-so I gotta check the class?" Harry heard Crona ask.

"Got it. Me and Liz are gonna check Snape's study, and Maka's gonna look for Dumbledore's study. Got that?" Patty said. She sounded quite energetic.

"Okay... got it." Crona mumbled. The group suddenly moved for the portrait, opening it and slipping out into the castle. Harry squinted, and walked after them.

Being invisible, Harry had an advantage of stealth. The girls didn't notice that someone was following them, but they kept to a crouch, as if they expected an attack.

At the end of the hall, the four girls split up, and moved in different directions. Harry stopped in his tracks for a second. After a quick decision, he turned and followed Liz and Patty.

Liz shivered. "Jeez, this castle is creepy!" she whispered.

Patty put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "It's okay, sis! There's nothing in this castle that could hurt my big sis!" She was cheerful, as usual. Just like Patty, to be cheerful in this scary-as-hell castle.

"So we've gotta find Draco Malfoy, right? He's in Slytherin house, and from what I heard, Slytherin was the same House Voldemort was in when he was in Hogwarts." Liz murmured. "Scary stuff."

"Yeah, well, I'm not scared!" Patty said, sounding gleeful. Liz wondered if her sister was ever scared. Probably not.

"Hey, do you hear footsteps?" Patty stopped in her tracks, and listened. "I think I hear footsteps!"

"Argh!" Liz jumped a foot or so into the air. "Don't do that, Patty! Jeez, you know how much I hate that!"

"I was being serious for once. I heard footsteps!"

Over the girls shoulders, Harry froze in his tracks. The younger girl had good ears. Harry didn't move again until the girls continued walking. He heard Patty say something along the lines of, "must have been my imagination," and heard Liz groan. Maybe following them wasn't such a good idea. However, Harry had to know what they were up to.

Meanwhile, Crona was sneaking into Umbridge's office. She hadn't heard any movement from the classroom, or the office for that matter, so she assumed it was safe. Crona pushed open the door, and looked around for a light of some sort. It would have been nice if Hogwarts used more electric lights, at least in her opinion.

"Aw, come on!" Crona heard Ragnarok growl. Apparently, she had been tense enough not to notice her Weapon come bursting out of her back as usual. The creature was still rather thin, but after eating a few kishin souls, he had grown wings that were capable of flight. As usual, Ragnarok seemed to be irritated and impatient. "Why does every freaking room in this castle have to be dark as hell?"

"Quiet down, Ragnarok. We don't want to be caught." Crona cautioned him.

"I know that! You think I wanna run into that demon bitch?" Ragnarok growled. "The answer is no!"

Crona decided to look around the office. After a few minutes, she found an important-looking letter on the desk. "Hey, what's this?" she extracted the letter, and read out the contents.

"To Dolores Umbridge, my trusted employee. You do understand that you are not to appear overzealous. I fear Dumbledore may overstep his bounds-" Crona crumpled the letter in disgust. "This thing is even more paranoid then I was a year ago!"

"Why did you scrunch it up, dumbass? Now Umbridge will know someone read it! Jeez, are you-" Ragnarok went off on a mini-rant.

"Okay okay okay! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Crona repeated, feeling slightly stupid. She slammed the paper onto the table and placed a book on top of it. Then, just for good measure, she slammed another, heavier book, on top of the book several times.

Down the corridor, Liz, Patty, and the cloaked Harry jumped in fright. "What the hell is that?" Patty yelped. The two weapon girls ran off down the hallway. Harry turned around, and ran off in the other direction. The two girls ran into the Defence classroom just in time to see Crona exit, her face red and nervous.

"Whazzup, Crona?" Patty asked. As usual, the younger Thomson sister had switched from scared to normal in five seconds.

"Er... nothing! I just kinda screwed-up-oh-my-god-we-have-to-get-back-to-the-house-right-now!" Crona bolted for the door, Ragnarok screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs all the way. All this noise probably alerted the janitor, and the Thomson sisters dashed off before he could show up.

Maka had been in the middle of a conversation with Professor McGonagall when she heard the crashing and the screaming. Luckily, the shrieking was completely unrecognizable. Most of the teachers had appeared in the hallway, and were currently standing around outside the Defence class. Umbridge, among other people, looked very concerned.

"I'm telling you, I heard a bunch of screaming girls! Students breaking curfew!" Filch was insisting. Dumbledore nodded patiently. It was likely he had to endure several more minutes of this.

"What was that noise?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Umbridge glared at her. "Is that a student?"

"Ms. Albarn was asking me about a very serious security issue, Mrs. Umbridge. Now, what happened here?" McGonagall asked.

"Who knows? I just heard screaming." Somehow, Professor Trelawny had managed to get all the way to the ground level to hear this.

"I tell you, we need better punishments for these kids. They get worse with every year! I bet it was that Potter brat-" Filch ranted.

"Be reasonable, Filch. As much as a delinquent as Potter is, he isn't that stupid," Professor Snape said. "I'd like to imagine that it was one of the Weasley twins. Either that, or just a first year in search of a water fountain."

Maka laughed at that. "But there are sinks in the bathroom, Professor. Anyone could get a decent drink out of those. Maybe it was a kishin."

"Is that so, Ms. Meister?" Snape asked, sounding thoughtful.

"Sounds like a possibility. Well, we better go and make sure the rest of the teaching staff isn't roaming the hallways. We wouldn't want everyone to be tired for the first day of classes." Dumbledore said. "We'll make an announcement tomorrow at breakfast."

The teachers nodded, and began to disperse. Trelawny stopped Filch long enough to warn him about exploding frogs, but the caretaker waved it off. Sometimes, Trelawny could be pretty absurd.

**And that's the end of the chapter! Sorry for the wait, but my schedule was really congested. Thank you for waiting so long! I will update sooner next time, I promise!**


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